Sunday, February 19, 2017

It's been over a year since I changed jobs and work schedules. I had ambitious plans to use my new "free time" for all kinds of good:

to volunteer

to take courses

to socialize more

to explore

to somehow be 'more'

I'm not there yet. There've been some small accomplishments, but I haven't moved the earth.

In the first months of the new schedule, deep in an Edmonton winter, I organized and deep cleaned many of our cupboards.

In late winter and early spring I set up indoor grow lights and started a bunch of veg seeds. I spent the spring, summer and fall caring for resulting plants and figuring out what to do with their produce.

We hosted a few 'Sunday Fundays' in our back yard, social events with a few friends, some good eats and great company.

We've managed to go out, with others, to live music more than a handful of times over the last year.

I made a photo book for #1 son, a couple years later than I'd planned, to celebrate his first 25 years.

I finally got around to volunteering before Christmas, but just for a couple of hours one week. Not quite the impact I was hoping to make.

And I managed to sign up for a one day Ladies Learning Code workshop in January. Also not quite the influx of new knowledge I'd envisioned.

On days like today, where I have a whole day and nothing planned, I feel useless. Restless. Bored. And yet, I could fill the day with laundry, errands, cooking. Or I could turn on my scanner and actually tackle the huge, daunting task of scanning the rest of the paper prints piled high on my credenza.

I think I'm not there yet because I haven't found the right thing. The thing that I can get all crazy passionate about. That I'd be willing to spend as much time with as I do with photography, gardening and finding new recipes for the Instant Pot. What's THE THING? How will I find it? Where is it hiding?

Is it growing food for the family, as environmentally friendly as I can, going to move the earth?

Is reducing the amount of stuff we buy, the amount of trash we produce, the amount of food we waste, going to move the earth?

Is finding a volunteer opportunity helping someone new to Edmonton or Canada feel at home here going to move the earth? Or teaching others to grow their own food? Or teaching kids about the wonder of species in their own backyards?

Do I need to move the earth, or do I only need to move myself, a little bit forward, a little step each day?

About Me

Nature loving prairie girl. Wanna be world traveller. Love good conversation over wine. Owner of Windermere Studios in southwest Edmonton, home to a gorgeous park like setting for Portraits. I've been providing Photography Services to the Sport Community of Edmonton and area since 2005. I've had the pleasure of covering local, provincial and national level competitions for soccer, rugby, badminton and dance. I bring experience and enthusiasm for the game to your sport events! I'm proud to support charities like Autism Society of Edmonton and The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by donating my services for their events, as well as being a volunteer photographer for The Maple Leaf Mission and Help Portrait.

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